Practice goalie

Abstract

The disclosure is directed to a rotatable life size cut out of a lacrosse goalie target made of plastic, foam rubber, or other material, and preferably a foam rubber, adapted to absorb the shock of repeated impacts of lacrosse balls, holding a lacrosse stick. The target is placed in front of (and optionally attached to by a coupler) a goal net to assist lacrosse players in their practice sessions. The practice goalie can be disposed in a first orientation holding a lacrosse stick such that the net of the lacrosse stick is to the right of the practice goalie's head or in a second orientation wherein the lacrosse stick is to the left of the practice goalies head, and can preferably be rotated to any angle therebetween the first and second configurations. Players can use either positioned practice goalie to practice their shooting using both of their hands.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A lacrosse goal practice target comprising:
 a) an elongate planar body having a top portion, a bottom portion, and two opposing outwardly facing planar sides, the two opposing outwardly facing planar sides being defined by a common perimeter, the perimeter being configured to resemble a full sized planar projection of a lacrosse player holding a lacrosse goaltender stick, the outwardly facing planar sides further defining indicia thereon to further illustrate the lacrosse player, the elongate planar body being composed essentially of a flexible resilient material that is configured to absorb shock of incoming lacrosse balls thrown at the target; and 
 b) a rotatable coupling attached to the top portion of the elongate planar body, the rotatable coupling being configured to attach to a central region of a cross member of a lacrosse goal, the rotatable coupling and elongate planar body being configured to rotate 360 degrees about a vertical axis from the coupling without being removed from the lacrosse goal to permit the outwardly facing planar sides to be oriented at any desired rotational angle with respect to the lacrosse goal, and further wherein the bottom portion of the elongate planar body is unattached to the lacrosse goal and permitted to deflect when impacted by an incoming lacrosse ball to absorb energy from the incoming lacrosse ball 
 c) the coupling further includes a linear adjustment such that the lacrosse goal practice target can be translated along a length of the cross member of the lacrosse goal in addition to being rotated about the vertical axis. 
 
     
     
       2. A lacrosse goal practice target according to  claim 1 , wherein the elongate planar body is composed of foam rubber material. 
     
     
       3. A lacrosse goal practice target according to  claim 1 , wherein the coupler is provided with angular marking indicia configured to inform a user of the angle at which the practice goalie is oriented with respect to the lacrosse goal. 
     
     
       4. A lacrosse goal practice target according to  claim 1 , wherein the elongate planar body has a lengthwise dimension between sixty-two and seventy-two inches. 
     
     
       5. A lacrosse goal comprising:
 a) a perimeter frame including two upright supports attached at an upper end thereof by a cross member, the two upright supports and the cross member defining an entrance plane to the goal; 
 b) a net attached to the perimeter frame; and 
 c) practice target, including:
 i) an elongate planar body having a top portion, a bottom portion, and two opposing outwardly facing planar sides, the two opposing outwardly facing planar sides being defined by a common perimeter, the perimeter being configured to resemble a full sized planar projection of a lacrosse player holding a lacrosse goaltender stick, the outwardly facing planar sides further defining indicia thereon to further illustrate the lacrosse player, the elongate planar body being composed essentially of a flexible resilient material that is configured to absorb shock of incoming lacrosse balls thrown at the target; and 
 ii) a rotatable coupling attached to the top portion of the elongate planar body, the rotatable coupling being configured to attach to a central region of the cross member of the lacrosse goal, the rotatable coupling and elongate planar body being configured to rotate 360 degrees about a vertical axis from the coupling without being removed from the lacrosse goal to permit the outwardly facing planar sides to be oriented at any desired rotational angle with respect to the entrance plane of the lacrosse goal, and further wherein the bottom portion of the elongate planar body is unattached to the lacrosse goal and permitted to deflect when impacted by an incoming lacrosse ball to absorb energy from the incoming lacrosse ball 
 
 iii) the coupling further includes a linear adjustment such that the lacrosse goal practice target can be translated along a length of the cross member of the lacrosse goal in addition to being rotated about the vertical axis.